Obama’s ‘Sister Souljah Moment’ on the Surveillance Bill

July 9th, 2008 1:42 PM Eastern

By Lanny DavisFormer White House Counsel/FOX News Political Contributor

Senator Barack Obama’s announcement that he would support the compromise bill providing court and congressional supervision of the president’s Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) and immunity for certain telecom companies that cooperated with it has led to a barrage of criticism from his “netroot” supporters on his campaign Web site and in much of the liberal blogosphere.

But the Senator’s position is not only correct on the merits from a pro-civil liberties and pro-privacy rights perspective. It also provided the Senator an important chance to demonstrate his “Sister Souljah moment.”

The latter phrase is a reference to the time when then-Governor Bill Clinton, in a defining moment early in his presidential campaign in 1991, stood up to the black rap star before a black audience for her anti-white attacks in some of her lyrics. The phrase has since become a metaphor for a Democrat showing the political courage to stand up to his or her liberal-left base, rather than pandering to it.

Senator Obama’s change of position has angered some of his more liberal supporters — but, I submit, only because they don’t appreciate the significant legal restrictions placed on the Administration’s conduct of the TSP by this legislation.

The compromise bill was essentially crafted by leading liberals in the House who see no inconsistency between civil liberties and privacy rights and protecting America from another 9/11 attack.

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